Vettel heads Red Bull front row at India

F1 Grand Prix, GP India, Buddh International Circuit

Sebastian Vettel has done what was expected by taking pole position for the Indian GP. His teammate at Red Bull, Mark Webber posted the second time to make this another front row lockout for the team. McLaren has both cars on the second row, followed by the Ferrari cars on row 3.

Weather conditions are perfect at the start of qualifying, just like on Friday. Everything is dry, no rain is predicted and the track's temperature is up to 38°C.

Pirelli meanwhile have brought the hard and soft tyre to India, with the company expecting a different of 0.7s to 1s between the two compounds, depending on the track evolution as the weekend progresses.

The session is kicked off by Paul Di Resta who is seemingly eager to get out on track early on. He is quickly followed his teammate Hulkenberg.

Soon the track of flourishing of action with Red Bull and McLaren immediately showing their form on their first flying laps. Ferrari seem a little bit behind while Raikkonen is amongst them as well.

7 minutes from the end, Massa is off in turn 15, getting on the throttle a little bit too early and spinning off. He is however able to return to the pits without troubles for him or any other driver.

At the closing stages, the battle to move through to Q2 is mainly amongst both Toro Rosso drivers, with Ricciardo eventually pulling the longest straw. Jean-Eric Vergne is therefore eliminated, along with the usual suspects.

Kovalainen meanwhile got beaten by Petrov, his team mate at Caterham F1. Kovalainen beached his car on his final flying lap and is walking back to the pitlane while marshalls are getting the car off the track.

At the same time as others were fighting for a way through to Q2, Pastor Maldonado also completed a late run, ending up on top of the timesheets, ahead of Vettel, Rosberg and Hamilton. Most of that however was thanks to the softer tyre. McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen did not require the use of the softer tyre and managed to progress to Q1 with a single run on the primes.

Q2 kicks off again with a Force India, this time it's Nico Hulkenberg who is out first. The big guns however follow quickly and 5 minutes later Vettel is already atop of the timesheet, having just banged in a lap in 1:25.435, three tenths faster than Webber who is just behind him on the track.

Grosjean and Massa meanwhile didn't have the best runs as they both struggled with oversteer in the twisty section. Massa manged to recover on track while Grosjean went off and cut some grass before rejoining the track, followed by an immediate return to the pits.

After everybody completed a first run, only Vettel, Webber and Hamilton decided not to run for a second time as they looked quite sure of moving through. Button on the other hand still went out for a second time, even while having set a faster time than his teammate in Q2 so far.

Times tumbled in the danger zone, with Hulkenberg first moving up to 9th, then Raikkonen to 8th. Hulkenberg was still ousted by improvements from Pérez and Massa. Grosjean also managed to improve and sneak ahead of the Force India, but he failed to move through to Q3, contrary to his teammate at Lotus.

Out are therefore in 11th place Grosjean, followed by Hulkenberg, Senna, Schumacher, Ricciardo, Di Resta and Kobayashi.

Fastest in this session was Vettel, ahead of Button, Webber, Hamilton and Alonso.

In Q3, Hamilton and Alonso are the first men out. Alonso sets a 1:25.773 while Hamilton makes a mistake along the lap and is 9 seconds off the pace. Vettel one minute later also screws up his first lap after oversteering into a turn and then going through the grass as he corrects the oversteer.

Halfway through the session, Webber then posts the fastest time in 1:25.327. Vettel meanwhile is already back in the pits and he decided not to complete that lap. The double World Champion is out again with 4 minutes 20 seconds left on the clock.

Pérez on the other hand is trying a different strategy and starts his first flying lap 4 minutes ahead of the end of the session. At this moment, there are only 3 times on the timesheet yet. Raikkonen and Maldonado are doing similar things, but none of them seem to have a chance for pole. Raikkonen posts 5th, just behind Hamilton. Pérez is 6th, Maldonado 7th.

One minute from the end, Vettel moved to the top of the timesheet, improving Webber's time by 0.044s.

The only men to improve in the closing stages are then Hamilton who moves up into 3rd spot, ahead of Button, while Massa moves into 6th, just behind Fernando Alonso.

This means that the Indian GP will see a Red Bull front row, followed by both McLarens, then both Ferrari cars.